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Sagamore Motor Lodge and the Spirit of Woodward

August 15, 2014

The Sagamore Motor Lodge hosts the same guests annually during the Woodward Dream Cruise Photo by Jake Lingeman

Local motel caters to Dream Cruise cruisers

The Spirit of Woodward Avenue isn’t a real award. It’s one silently given through a nod or thumbs up, either while cruising the biggest one-day car show in the world, or walking through the throngs of cars and people that attend. There’s no place the Spirit is more evident than at the Sagamore Motor Lodge at Coolidge and Woodward Avenue, the heart of the Woodward Dream Cruise.

Most of Sagamore’s Woodward weekend guests have been coming to stay during the cruise for at least 10 years; a few have been coming for 20. Ed Albertson, from Ortonville, Mich., has been coming since the Dream Cruise started. He shows up with his black and gold 1957 Chevy Bel-Air AND a black 1967 Corvette.

“I owned them both back in the day, and then sold them both,” said Albertson. “And I bought them both back.”

The ’67 Corvette was a lower production model year, and it came with air conditioning from the factory, making it a real collector’s item. The 327-cubic-inch V8 looks like it just came off the factory floor. Albertson doesn’t baby it, either. We asked. Albertson also owned two Mustangs, '64 ½ and a ’70 Boss 429.

Dave Ford has been bringing his 1962 Chevy Nova to Woodward and the Sagamore for 14 years. It has a 502-cubic-inch big block making 636 hp. It runs low 10s in the quarter mile about 130 mph, Ford told us. He’s into the old American cars, and not really into corners. He also likes to act like he’s on vacation.

“We like to come down here and pretend like we’re 10,000 miles away,” said Ford. His group, all from Michigan, laughed in agreement.

“We see a few people during the year,” said Joe Smith, sitting next to Ford. “Some of us are drinking buds.”

Like the rest of the crew, Smith has been at the Sagamore on Woodward weekend for more than decade. He keeps in contact with his Sagamore friends in the middle of the year. His 1982 Chevy Corvette has only 42,000 miles. “It’s a collector’s edition,” he assured us. He calls to reserve his spot in March, when the ground floor rooms start filling up. The Sagamore instituted a policy about five years ago that offers guests a chance to reserve a parking spot along with their room. It costs, but it’s worth it, according to the group.

“Before the policy, we couldn’t cruise,” said Ford. “People would take our spots, or worse, fill them with regular cars. I didn’t want to park my hot rod out back.” The rest of the group agreed.

The Sagamore Motor Lodge isn’t the fanciest hotel on Woodward, nor is it the cheapest. But it’s one of the few Motels -- captial M -- left on The Avenue and a place where Joe, Dave, Ed, and their wives and friends can have a reunion of sorts. And if a random motel parking lot full of stunning classic cars doesn’t exemplify the Spirit of Woodward, we don’t know what does.